The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) concluded the 46th session of the GCC Supreme Council, held last week at Sakhir Palace in Manama, under the Presidency of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, The Crown Prince and Prime Minister, was also present.
At the outset of the final session, a unified GCC Civil Aviation Authority was announced by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Al Budaiwi. It will be headquartered in the UAE.
The decision follows recommendations from the GCC Executive Committee for Civil Aviation in Kuwait City, where a single authority, Unified Upper Airspace, and Advanced Air Mobility projects were proposed for endorsement by the GCC Supreme Council.
The six GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman) host more than 23 international airports and operate 17 national airlines, six of which rank among the top 50 worldwide for 2024. Moreover, GCC airlines carried around 68 million passengers in 2023.
A pilot phase of the GCC ‘one-stop’ travel system was kicked off between the UAE and Bahrain earlier last week, allowing GCC citizens to move without repeating entry procedures.
Officials indicated the system will gradually extend to all member states, streamlining regional travel. That said, no specific timeline has been publicly confirmed for the Supreme Council’s decision or the full operational rollout.
The initiative is part of broader GCC efforts to harmonise civil aviation policies, update legislation, unify operating systems, and implement advanced technologies across the region.
Further legislative work and alignment between member states’ aviation authorities will likely be needed before full implementation. The GCC-wide common aviation structure is said to be modeled around the EU’s Single European Sky model.
